South Australia has jumped to fourth place globally in the Fraser Institute’s 2025 mining attractiveness rankings, up from 35th, driven by policy stability and strong geological potential for copper, uranium and critical minerals. The jurisdiction’s performance on regulatory certainty, permitting timelines and fiscal terms now places it ahead of Western Australia and Queensland, reversing previous investor concerns about approval delays. For project developers, the shift signals a friendlier environment for large-scale exploration programmes and long-life open pit and underground operations in the Gawler Craton and Olympic Dam corridor.

Covalent Lithium’s Mt Holland mine and Kwinana refinery ramp-up is gaining traction, with joint venture partner SQM reporting a confidence-boosting progress update on the integrated spodumene-to-hydroxide project in Western Australia. The operation couples an open-pit hard-rock lithium mine at Mt Holland with a downstream lithium hydroxide plant at Kwinana, targeting battery-grade product for EV supply chains. For geotechnical and process engineers, the key focus is on synchronising mine development, concentrator performance and refinery commissioning to stabilise throughput and product quality.

Brightstar Resources is accelerating plans to become a mid-tier Western Australian gold producer, driven by high-grade drilling results at its Sandstone project and ongoing work at the Menzies goldfields. Recent reverse circulation and diamond holes at Sandstone have intersected multiple narrow, high-grade lodes near existing open pits, supporting potential brownfield expansions around historic workings and existing haul roads. The company is now advancing resource updates, mine planning and metallurgical testwork to underpin a restart strategy leveraging existing processing infrastructure in the northern Goldfields.